4 women lure Dubai driver with massage card, steal Dh60,300

Dubai - They lured the driver into their flat.

Four women, who kept a man against his will inside a flat and robbed Dh60,300 from him, were sentenced to six months in jail each on Monday by a Dubai court.
Dubai public prosecution accused the four Nigerian women, aged between 28 and 33, along with other runaway female accomplices, of luring the Nepali man into their flat with a massage advert they had left on a business card along with a mobile number.
However, it was only when he entered the place that he realised that it was just a trick. He was locked in, tied up and subjected to threats of death and physical torture, while being robbed of Dh60,300. 
The women were convicted by the Court of First Instance of illegal confinement under intimidation and threats of death and physical torture and forcible robbery. They will be deported after completing their jail terms, the court ordered.
A complaint was lodged on June 10, last year, at Al Rafaa police station.
The complainant, a 33-year-old driver, said that he found a massage card. "I contacted its number on WhatsApp and I was led to a flat. When I got inside, eight African women pounced on me."
The complainant recounted how they locked the door, tied him up and assaulted him. "They took Dh300 from my wallet and Dh60,000 from my pocket. They told me to leave after threatening me not to call the police. The women then fled the place."
He identified some of them later at the police station.
A Pakistani security guard said he saw three African women running out from the building at 11pm. "The police arrived shortly after receiving a robbery report. Those women are not residents. One of them, a 31-year-old, had sub-let the apartment to a Nigerian man."
A police corporal told the prosecution investigators that the women were involved in another robbery in which they followed the same modus operandi. "We tracked them down and apprehended them. The victim they had lured through massage adverts identified them among other suspects."   
The defendants were also charged in a similar separate criminal case in which they lured and robbed a man. 
The defendants can appeal the court ruling within 15 days.

mary@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai